


R is for Raiju

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: The A,B,Cs of Mythical Creatures and Monsters [17]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Hurt/Comfort, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Magic, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 18:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13957812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Iwaizumi is captured and sold for parts in the Black Market.  He thinks there will be no rescue, could that possibly be true?





	R is for Raiju

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kath (KathWolfie)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KathWolfie/gifts).



> Wonderful Kath over on tumblr requested Raiju+MatsuIwa and boy did this come out way different than I originally intended! First of all, it wasn't suppose to be so angsty or... bloodthirsty? Also sorry for my weak knowledge of Oni masks! I just really wanted our Seijoh boys in them.
> 
> Feel free to drop by and offer up a mythical creature+ship on tumblr (or here!)  
> http://thatishogwash.tumblr.com/

Iwaizumi laid upon the cold, hard compacted dirt that made up the floor of his cage.  Everything around him from the sack over his head to the chains around his wrists and the collar around his throat was to keep him compliant and immobile.  Weak and defenseless as they stabbed and cut and took from him. No solace was found after because whatever they took grew back, slow and painfully. His entire body ached, inside and out.  They cursed and spat at him in a language he could only understand parts of. His brain felt as if there was a dense fog settled over it.

 

Very little of himself remained in his mind. Nothing seemed to exist outside of the cage.  There had been a forest and he had been wounded. A storm raged on above him and made him frantic.  He could not see properly, he felt as if he should be able to run on four feet instead of two and he tripped himself up often.  He hurt and he needed to escape but there was no escaping.

 

A new voice appeared.  Deep and careful and Iwaizumi couldn’t even hold onto the hope that they hadn’t come for him.  They always came for him. He wasn’t sure what good strips of his skin did, why they bled him into jar after jar, what use was an organ once ripped out of its host?

 

Something hammered inside Iwaizumi’s skull, dragged along the confines as if it too was caught in a cage it could not escape.  He wished it would shut up, he wished it all would just stop. He was always tired, always aching and in pain. They never fed him or gave him water and he was sure he should be dead several times over but he always came back.

 

“- _eyes…?”_  Iwaizumi clenched his eyes shut.  One had grown back but the other was still painfully healing.

 

“I’ll need to see them before.”  That same deep voice said, no infliction in their tone but for the first time the words were clear and Iwaizumi understood every one of them.

 

The cage was rattled and his chains were pulled tight.  The fingers on his left hand had yet to grow back and it ached all the more when he was forced flat onto the ground, his abused body spread wide.  They had taken several organs, yesterday? The day before? It mattered very little but the cut they had made to get to them had only just scabbed over.  With the sudden movement it ripped open once more but that was no concern to Iwaizumi.  What was one more hurt?

 

The bag was removed from his head, the herbs that clogged up his senses and kept him weak clung to him as he blindly looked over.  Old withered fingers gripped his face without sympathy, pulling and prodding until Iwaizumi was using his one good eye to look up, all the way up into a face hidden by an Oni mask.

 

“Ah,” A long fingered hand reached up and Iwaizumi thought he saw a spark between his fingers, and removed the mask.  “There you are.”

 

A great commotion came from the front of the shop.  Those holding Iwaizumi startled as the old man tried to shove him back into the cage, yelling fiercely to the man holding the Oni mask.

 

“ _Dragon_!”  Someone shouted from far.  Iwaizumi knew that word, heard the deep Earth-rumbling roar of pure anger.    They reached for weapons, dropping the poles that held Iwaizumi still but for whatever reason, Iwaizumi was sure it was already too late.

 

Lightning wrapped around the stranger who slid the Oni mask to the side of his head.  His eyes burned white as he looked calmly around the room.

 

“Run.”  The man said.  Those in the room did as he commanded, running for the exit where they were cut down by another wearing an Oni mask too.

 

“Hurry, _he_ seems to have lost control once again and I don’t think he’s in any condition to fight him.”  Pink hair poked over the top of his mask, dead bodies on the ground staining it crimson. Iwaizumi felt as if he was one of the people the man was referring to and he couldn’t argue, he was in no condition to fight anyone.

 

Another fury-filled roar.

 

“We were told to be discreet.”  The pink haired man said, facing away from Iwaizumi and his partner who had bent down and was methodically removing all the talismen and charms that kept Iwaizumi weak.  Neither looked worried that the screaming seemed to be coming closer.

 

Fingers grazed Iwaizumi’s cheek, light and soft and if he could have, he would have sought more of that touch.  He knew nothing of gentleness but these two felt so familiar.

 

“Time to go home.”  The one made of lightning spoke directly in his ear and suddenly Iwaizumi knew no more.

  
  


\------------------

  
  


Iwaizumi rested beneath a sprawling tree in the heavens.  It felt good to be back, to be able to hold once more his true form.  He was a Raiju after all, a thunder beast and not meant to hold a human form for so long.  He had been fighting with Oikawa, as per usual, and the dragonkin had clipped his tail, sending him to earth wounded and confused.

 

The hunters had taken advantage of that, known what Iwaizumi was and had made a small fortune selling his parts on the black market.  They were quite dead now and though Iwaizumi had entertained the possibility of seeking them in the underworld to repay them for their hospitality, he decided against it.

 

Oikawa was being punished.  He’d survived worse and was most likely to be punished after that for he had a terrible temper and an even worse attitude.  Hanamaki was keeping him company.

 

A lone figure walked towards Iwaizumi.

 

The council had warned them to stop what they were doing.  To them, Iwaizumi was just a beast, no matter what form he could take on and just because they had adopted human names and faces did not mean they were allowed to behave as such.  When Iwaizumi had disappeared they had also told Raijin, _his Matsukawa_ , to leave it be.  That he was plenty capable of making another Raiju.

 

Matsukawa laid against Iwaizmu’s side.  Iwaizumi was made of lightning but Matsukawa was a god of lightning, thunder, and storms so it mattered very little to him.

 

The opinions of other gods also mattered very little to Matsukawa.  They had threatened to force him into a Rebirth so his connection to Iwaizumi would be lost.

 

Iwaizumi moved, let Matsukawa fall to the ground before shifting form and using very human legs to straddle the god beneath him.  He pressed his hands into the soft ground on either side of Matsukawa’s head. The Oni mask Matsukawa had worn into the black market had been full of rage and the one propped to the side of his head now was lustful.

 

“If we continue they will kill the both of us.”  Iwaizumi stated plainly, bluntly. Matsukawa’s hands roamed his sides, his face mostly passive but Iwaizumi had been with him for centuries now.  He knew the god beneath him, even when he wore those silly masks to hide himself Iwaizumi still knew him.

 

Death would be much different for Matsukawa then it would be for Iwaizumi.  Matsukawa would be Reborn and Iwaizumi would be nothing. He did not have a soul as humans do that would be pulled into the underworld, he could not be reincarnated for he was lightning given purpose.  Death did not frighten Iwaizumi though.

 

“They should try, we haven’t had a good war in a while.”  Matsukawa stated, stretching up to press himself against Iwaizumi.  Iwaizumi leaned down into Matsukawa so he wouldn’t have to strain. He ducked his head, breathed in the scent of the god beneath him and held it in his lungs.  Matsukawa sighed as Iwaizumi dragged teeth ever-so-gently along the long column of his throat.

 

“You came for me.”  Iwaizumi said. He wouldn’t have died in that cage.  Humans did not have the ability to kill a being such as him no matter how much they cut him up.  Matsukawa could have made another Raiju, one who did not argue with him as much or leave marks upon his skin for the other gods to see.

 

“I always will.”  It was a promise by a god, not to be taken lightly.

 

Iwaizumi kissed Matsukawa on the open hill in the heavens, where any prying god could see.  Let them try and take what was his, they would not find him such an easy target.

 

Matsukawa was his god, his Raijin, and he would fight for that right.


End file.
